Surely there could be nothing more frustrating in business than seeing all your hard work disappear due to a basic administrative error. Yet that is precisely the risk taken by many businesses when they allow their domain name to expire.

In theory, anybody could swoop in, purchase their expired domain and either charge them a lot of money to sell it back or take advantage of any branding and marketing work that has been done for the domain in the past to gain financially from operating a website on your old domain.

To avoid that happening you need to now how to renew a domain name because this is one of those examples of prevention being far better than cure. Follow these tips to keep your business in control of its website.

1. Select auto-renewal

Most domain name registrars provide an option that allows you to automatically renew your domains when they are about to expire. There is no good reason not to activate this option. The worst case scenario is that you pay a few pounds, euro or dollars to own a domain that you no longer need. This is by more more preferable than losing a valuable domain, so tick the appropriate box and have your registrar keep your domains up-to-date by default.

2. Know who is responsible and make sure they know their stuff

Who is responsible for managing your domain renewals? This often falls through the cracks: responsibility is not allocated to anyone and this only becomes apparent when there is a problem. In many case, web design or web development companies end up taking responsibility (whether they wanted to or not) and act as middlemen between their client and the domain name registrar. Ask for an outline of their domain name management policies and processes - just because they are willing to handle your domain doesn’t make them the best people for the job, so check they are up to the task.

How many domain renewal reminders must be floating around in cyberspace having failed to reach the inbox of somebody who has left the company? For this reason, sign-up using a generic email address that is checked by or forwarded to multiple people in the business.

4. Choose a reputable domain name registrar

If you’ve followed the first three steps, the final hurdle that can trip you up is the domain name registrar itself. To minimise the risk of them dropping the ball, choose a reputable company with a local phone number and a physical address in your country. Nominet has a list of approved registrars in the UK, while IEDR offers a similar service for Ireland. Please don’t be tempted to save spare change by opting for an overseas registrar that will have no accountability to you.